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True North Humanist Perspective - October 2015

Lia Tarachansky

A Jew reports from Israel

Israel deports African refugees against their will

ETHNOCRACY IN THE PROMISED LAND

ISRAEL'S AFRICAN REFUGEES

The Story

Five years before the revolutions of the Arab Spring, on the last day of 2005, thousands of Egyptian police officers stormed a protest encampment in downtown Cairo. The tent city the police invaded was erected three months earlier by African refugees, and stood outside the offices of the UNHCR. The Egyptian forces opened fire killing at least 20 and injuring dozens.

The Tent City was the refugees’ protest against oppressive conditions they’ve faced in Egypt, and the UN agency’s neglect to defend them against exploitation, racism, and frequent violence. Shortly after, many asylum seekers realized they couldn’t return south to their war-torn homeland, and began heading north, towards Israel. For those who chose the only alternative route, through Libya to Europe, that path would shortly close too as civil war was soon to break out. For both written version and video click HERE.

Russia dives in to clean-up failed U.S. mess in Syria

Mike Whitney writes on politics and finances and lives in Washington state. He can be reached at fergiewhitney@msn.com

For more than a year, the United States has been playing patty-cake with an army of homicidal maniacs who call themselves ISIS. On Monday, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced that he’d had enough of Washington’s song-and-dance and was planning to bring a little Russian justice to the terrorist militias that had killed 225,000 Syrians and ripped the country to shreds. In language that could not be more explicit, Putin said to the General Assembly: “We can no longer tolerate the currents state of affairs in the world”. Less than 48 hours later, Russian bombers were raining down precision-guided munitions on terrorist strongholds across western Syria sending the jihadi vermin scrambling for cover. (More)

Why German mayors are leading

the migrant-wave welcome wagon

22 September 2015

By Doug Saunders — The Globe and Mail

Leipzig, Germany — First came the migrants: A million are expected to arrive in Germany by the end of the year and more in 2016, many of them Syrian refugees, ushered into the country by a surprise wave of “welcome culture” from citizens and a panicked debate among Berlin officials about where to put them all.

Then came the mayors: Over the past several weeks, scores of German cities, big and small, east and west, have begun jumping over one another to receive and settle as many refugees and migrants as they can get – often for purely self-interested reasons.

Some want to rebuild their labour force or tax base; others simply want to fill up abandoned housing tracts or military bases, even if they’re in the middle of nowhere. And others are simply trying to get a slice of the funding announced by Berlin to build hundreds of thousands of homes in a few months.

To receive a million people a year (at least 30 per cent of whom will be accepted as refugees, government officials say), Germany has put itself on something resembling a war footing. Two weeks ago, ministers met to rewrite the country’s rigorous building code to allow for lower standards of housing so that hundreds of thousands of prefab homes can be built under government contracts in months. (More)

'Suddenly Syria's constitutional president Assad

doesn't look so devilish to west European leaders'

Shifting winds: How Assad is becoming Syria’s only viable option

Catherine Shakdam is a political analyst, writer and commentator for the Middle East with a special focus on radical movements and Yemen. Her writings have been published in world-renowned publications such as Foreign Policy Journal, Mintpress News, the Guardian, Your Middle East, Middle East Monitor, Middle East Eye, Open Democracy, Eurasia Review and many more. A regular pundit on RT, she has also contributed her analyses to Etejah TV, IRIB radio, Press TV and NewsMax TV. Director of Programs at the Shafaqna Institute for Middle Eastern Studies and consultant for Anderson Consulting, her research and work on Yemen were used by the UN Security Council in relation to Yemen looted funds in 2015.

26 September 2015

By Catherine Shakdom

In a press conference this month, German Chancellor Angela Merkel introduced the notion that Syrian President Bashar Assad could indeed be a useful partner in defeating terror. What could have spooked Europe so badly it wants to make a deal with its self-appointed demon?

Are Western capitals finally owning up to the quagmire they helped create in Syria? Well not exactly, but the tone of officials is certainly more conciliatory than it was only a few months ago, when French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius, and his British counterpart, Philip Hammond defiantly refused the possibility of engaging Assad for the sake of defeating terror.

What a difference a few months can make … Or is it that Syria's war became too much of a palpable reality for Western capitalism to handle? Could it be that Europe is now willing to break bread with the man it has demonized for the past few years to stem the tide of refugees on its territories? (More)

Poklonskaya blasts Ukrainian blockade

of Crimea as unlawful and West-inspired

25 September 2015

Crimean Prosecutor Natalya Poklonskaya says the so-called ‘food blockade’ of the peninsula launched by Ukrainian far-right movements is just a futile attempt to cause Russia additional discomfort in the interests of Western opponents.

“The so-called blockade does not conform to any norms of international law. But its instigators are not planning to build anything, they can only destroy and they need to further justify their existence. They act in the interests of Western nations based across the ocean, they act as puppets with strings in someone else’s hands when they try to even their scores with Crimea and harm Russia,” RIA Novosti quoted the famous Crimean lawyer as saying on Friday.

She added that the plans by Ukrainian radicals to disrupt food deliveries on the Crimean Peninsula had failed on every account. There is no threat of food shortages and Crimean residents haven’t complained of any discomfort, she noted, adding that law enforcers would not allow external forces to damage the regional economy. (More)

Turkey's president says Western greed and wars

with double stamdards are 'drowning humanity'

05 September 2015

The interests of the West in war-torn countries such as Iraq and Libya are focused on their natural resources, oil in particular, while the current refugee crisis remains badly dealt with, said Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

On Thursday, Erdogan “expressed with sorrow” that some European countries have “double standards,” slamming the West for drowning “humanity,” Hurriyet Daily News reported.

Erdogan slammed the West’s policies in oil-rich countries such as Iraq and Libya, which both suffer from dire security situations and have experienced Western military interventions.

“Do you know what is being done in these places? ‘There is oil in Libya and Iraq, so let’s seize the oil-wells.’ Isn’t this the situation now?” the president said. “80 percent of Iraq’s oil wells are under the control of the West. It is the same in Libya. While all these realities exist, this [international] structure is not acceptable.”

Global terrorism, also “burning” Syria and Iraq, was another sore point for Erdogan, who said: “Western countries do not show necessary sensitivity” towards this problem.(More)

Former UK counter-terrorism officer says

most CIA-backed rebels in Syria ‘anti-American'

24 September 2015

RT — The majority of the fighting power of the Syrian ‘moderates’ is in the hands of so-called jihadists and extremists, says Charles Shoebridge, former UK counter-terrorism officer. They are generally Islamists who don’t support democracy, he said. (More)

‘Death boats’ vs. danger at home

European asylum hope splits Syrian twin brothers

22 September 2015

The refugee crisis is not only dividing Europe, but also splitting Syrian families that cannot agree on whether to stay or go. Meanwhile, Syrians are increasingly concerned about “brain drain,” as qualified individuals join the exodus to the EU.
Trends

RT’s Lizzie Phelan travelled to Syria, where she interviewed twin brothers, Nour and Anas, who are being separated by their decision to pursue different lives. Nour is getting ready to go to Europe while Anas remains firm on staying in Syria. (More)

Chechen leader Kadyrov takes 2,000 Syrian refugees

out for Muslim holiday feast in German restaurant

25 September 2015

The head of the Chechen Republic Ramzan Kadyrov has said a charity foundation named after his late father, is helping to provide aid to Syrian refugees in Germany.

“On Thursday 24 September more than 900 Syrian refugees became guests at one of the best restaurants in the city of Kiel, Germany. We took them from a refugee camp in buses and put on holiday tables for them,” Kadyrov wrote on his Instagram account.

Muslims of the world celebrated Eid al-Adha (Feast of Sacrifice) this week.

He added that all expenses were paid by the Regional Public Foundation, named after Kadyrov’s late father and first president of the Chechen Republic, Akhmad Kadyrov.

Kadyrov also announced that 1,000 more refugees would be taken for the holiday meal on Friday. In addition, the foundation would provide the German refugee camp with school furniture and equipment for children’s playgrounds.

“The refugees are deeply grateful to the head of the foundation and the head of the Chechen Republic for the aid provided,” he wrote.(More)

Communist opposition MP elected Siberian Governor

The outcome of the second round of voting demonstates that Russia has a competitive political system, says Andrey Klishas, head of the Federation Council Committee on Constitutional Legislation and State Construction.(More)

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